Sophistication Meets Modern Wedding at St Charles Country Club

Carlee and Matt’s June wedding at St Charles Country Club was the perfect mixture of sophisticated, timeless design and modern elements! And I do not often think that things are timeless, so that’s quite a lot coming from me lol!

When she first reached out to me, Carlee explained that she was inspired by a Nancy Meyers aesthetic (Parent Trap wedding, anyone?). With Emily from Feast & Festivities, they merged this into a literary and poetic inspired design featuring a mostly white palette with accents of sage and light blue that’s just too good to miss.

Photos by Kassandra Donaldson

There’s a funny coincidence, that Emily from Feast & Festivities and I seem to only do white palettes together at St Charles. Take a look at this white rose wedding from last summer, and you’ll see! But I love that with a different take on a floor plan and some different focal design elements, two weddings can look completely unique even if they’re in the same space and with the same palette. Hats off to Emily, for the beautiful event design!

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: white roses, white garden spray roses, white sweet pea, and olive foliage.

I love the chic black gowns the bridal party wore, and that we paired them with simple white roses. This is a fantastic way to save on your budget, while also making a more modern statement.

The ceremony was on the lawn at St Charles, and though the garden wasn’t in bloom yet (aside from a few peonies, which smelled DIVINE), the arch did all the talking. I used my classic garden arch, and we went for full coverage in a classic design. We didn’t want anything too messy or organic in shape. I used a lot of white roses, along with baby’s breath, stock, and white tulips.

We also placed two ground-based arrangements at the end of the aisle, which were then repurposed onto the fireplace mantle as part of the lounge.

Pretty pretty reception space! St Charles renovated a few years ago, and it’s now a very clean, neutral space with so many great windows. It’s got a bit of an awkward shape, with that L shaped floor plan, but using a mix of round and rectangular tables worked really well.

Emily brought in Beyond the Lounge’s high gloss white banquet tables, which are a bit on the narrow side. So, we kept the centrepieces minimal, just lining the middle of the table with stem vases and candles. One of my favourite touches was a custom scented candle that Emily partnered with Farmer’s Son Co, so the wedding had a subtle scent.

The round tables were draped with a taupe linen, and we placed an all-white compote centrepiece on them. The locally grown tulips that we included were totally the star!

I loved this disco ball and fringe installation over the dance floor! I know they’re trendy, but I just cannot get enough of the shimmer that a disco ball gives off. I’m thinking about hanging one in my office.

I love that the dance floor and lounge area is somewhat separated from the dining space — it gives a really cool opportunity to shift the vibe.

The experience was truly flawless from introduction to execution. She has incredible creative vision—even though the colour palette for my day was mostly white and I knew I wanted to incorporate a lot of roses, she put in thoughtful care and consideration choosing complementary blooms so that each bouquet and installation looked truly intentional and beautiful and visually dynamic. Our ceremony arch was even more breathtaking than what I could have imagined. Lauren hand delivered my bouquet the morning of our wedding, giving us all a few tips about how to hold our flowers and some well wishes for the big day. She was an excellent and organized communicator and clearly goes above and beyond for all of her clients. Couldn’t recommend Lauren more!

Kassandra Donaldson Photography ~ Feast & Festivities ~ St Charles Country Club ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Beyond the Lounge ~ Minted ~ Lovenote Bride

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Looking for a Wedding Floral Designer in Winnipeg?

Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding! 

What Do Floral Installations Cost at Weddings?

It’s basically impossible for someone who’s not in the floral industry to have any clue how to budget for or price out a floral installation. Let me help!

Photo: Esther Funk Photography

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I recently had an off-putting encounter with a bride (not one of my clients), who walked into the tent at Pineridge Hollow while Deanna and I were setting up a wedding. 

She was just checking it out as her wedding was upcoming there, and she asked which floral company we were with. When I responded “Stone House Creative,” she kind of muttered “of course” and I politely responded, “was I already booked for your date?” She replied no, and kind of fumbled over the words: “you’re too expensive.” She then proceeded to say that she was willing to splurge because she wanted the ceiling covered in greenery and the tent entrance poles covered with florals and greenery exactly like she had seen me design for another wedding at the same venue last fall. 

So…she thought that I was too expensive, but hadn’t even inquired with me or received a quote from me, all at the same time as wanting TWO very labour-intensive and product-intensive installations. 

I was so confused and a few weeks later, it’s still so unsettling to me. I know that you all don’t know what goes into the costs of floral design and what it is what we do — and you don’t have to know! That’s totally our jobs. 

But there are a few lines that need to be drawn, and that’s this: don’t assume something is too expensive without looking into it, AND if you’re supposedly on a low budget (because I’m too expensive? that’s the inference I assumed from the conversation) then don’t assume that you can afford multiple large installations.  

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(And to note: Stone House Creative is not really more or less expensive than any other established floral designers who specialize in weddings and use the premium quality product that I do. There are definitely companies who charge too little, but that doesn’t mean that I’m charging too much — there’s a big difference between the price tag associated with a company that undercuts or doesn’t charge for rental items, and a company like mine that is built on solid business practises and isn’t interested in going into the red to pay for other peoples’ weddings.)

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This does give me the perfect opportunity to talk to you all about budgeting for installations. When a floral designer or wedding planner uses the word “installation,” we’re referring to those large focal moments that are massively eye-catching and make a huge impact on your wedding design. These are also going to be large budget line items, as they generally require a lot of labour, a lot of product, and a lot more logistical consideration than just designing a centrepiece and popping it onto a table. 

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So, let’s talk about floral and greenery installations, and what they cost. 

First, I have to give the annoying caveat that every installation is going to cost a completely different amount than the next. The very nature of an installation is that it’s 100% customized to the space, the product used, the amount of time and labour it takes to put together, and so on. 

Second, I’ll give the broad-scale notice that nothing large is “cheap.” Ever. Nothing. You can look at a very floral-heavy installation and think “if she makes it out of carnations, it’ll be cheap.” That’s just not true — large, statement making pieces require a TON of product, time, expertise, and labour, and none of that is inexpensive. It’s like if you’re buying a car, and you think “a Mercedes is too expensive for my budget; I’ll get a Corolla instead,” but then you upgrade to literally every single premium option in that Corolla, you’re still going to be spending a lot of money. It’s still not cheap. 

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Planning: Feast & Festivities | Photo: Megan Steen Photography

Greenery on Ceilings

If you’ve spent any time on Pinterest or Instagram looking for wedding inspo, you’ll have seen images of tents or ballrooms with greenery vining across the ceiling. It can be incredibly gorgeous, yes! 

Here’s what you’re not thinking about: the rigging or lighting company needs to first go up on ladders or a lift, and install cables or line for the florist to then go up and attach the greenery to. This takes them a few hours. 

Then the floral designer gets up on the ladder or the lift and attaches the greenery. This takes a few hours, and at least 3 staff. And not everyone is comfortable getting up on a ladder! 

Now, the vining greenery that we often use for this type of work is called smilax. It comes in a large quantity, often in a giant garbage bag crammed into a cardboard box. It does not come in smaller quantities. You can’t just get a small bit of it. It’s also covered in thorns, and twisted up in vines and it’s really time consuming to carefully pull apart to get the right pieces. And quite frequently, by the time it gets to us in Manitoba, it’s partially rotten and so we have to buy more to account for this.

Based on the amount of product that we have to order, the absolute bare minimum that you’ll need to invest in ceiling greenery is $1000, and that’s just the cost of product. That’s not including labour, time, or logistical needs like renting a scissor lift. Depending on how large of a space you’re covering, or how dense you want the coverage, this is most likely not going to be nearly enough. Without knowing anything about your space, I’d suggest budgeting at least $3000 for anything on the ceiling. This could easily go up to over $8000 depending on the size of space you’re working with.

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Planning: Feast & Festivities | Photo: Megan Steen Photography

Tent Entrances or Staircase Installations

I love a good tent entrance moment ✨ Read more here to find out why (and some of my other favourite ways to design a tent wedding!). 

Tent entrances and staircase installations are relatively similar in the way that we have to design. Basically we need to take the amount of space that we’re designing (50 stairs approx 12 inches deep each, or 2 tent poles approx 8 feet high, etc) and then figure out how much product we need per foot, and multiply that by the dimensions we’re working with. We also need to consider how much volume we’re using, if we’re trying to camouflage something like a tent cable, and so on. 

Another important question to ask is, are we using all greeneries/foliages or are we incorporating floral, or is it entirely floral? This is going to affect the final cost, as well as how long it’s going to take, what the mechanics are, what needs a water source, and so on. A tent entrance could likely start around $2500 for a foliage-focused design, while I’d suggest that a full staircase installation like the photos you’re looking at on Pinterest would start more around $10k.

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Planning: Soiree Event Planning | Photo: Brittany Mahood Photography

Hanging Installations

Hanging installations can come in many shapes and sizes. This season alone, we’ve done medium to large pieces hanging over a bar or a head table, to greenery-dense grids hanging over a dance floor, to floral clouds hanging over an aisle. You can see how it’s impossible to give a blanket quote for these types of things. 

7 years ago, when I started doing a lot of hanging ceremony installations at the now closed Cielo’s Garden, I priced them starting at $500. Just as with every other industry in the world, floral costs have increased much since then. 

If you’re wanting a single hanging piece over a head table or a bar, for example, I’d suggest budgeting at least $800 (similar in size to the picture above). This will also vary if you need it completely double sided, or single sided (as in, is the back going up against a wall and no one will notice if there are no florals on the back side?). 

If you’re wanting something more dramatic, like flower clouds down your aisle or a large piece over your dance floor, I’m going to again suggest budgeting a minimum of $3000. If you have a large space (like a 20x20 dance floor, for example), obviously that will take more product to cover. You also don’t need to fully cover it! A few hanging pieces here and there can be absolutely dreamy!

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Photo: Ariana Tennyson Photography

Fireplace Mantles

Fireplace moments are SO delicious to me. We’ve got a few wedding venues in Winnipeg and area that have some glorious fireplaces that I love flowering, including St Charles Country Club, Hawthorn Estates, and Lilystone Gardens. 

One thing that’s great about fireplace installations is that it can be a great place to repurpose a ceremony floral piece! Make sure to measure the fireplace and ensure it’s deep enough (some are mostly decorative and don’t have much space on the mantle). If you have aisle pieces or an arch piece, these might find a good home on the fireplace. 

Floral designs always come together best when they’re designed for one particular spot, so if budget does allow for you to give the mantle it’s own moment, you’ll be the happiest with the final product. Mantles can be done as a lush, full floral and greenery piece, as well as easily done as a collection of candles and mixed stem vases and varied size arrangements. 

The cost is going to depend on the size of the fireplace, but if you’re looking at a large floral piece, I’d start your budgeting around $200/foot of coverage that you want, and if you’re looking to incorporate candles and stem vases, you could probably budget that at $75 - $100/foot of coverage. 

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Planning: Eventzy | Photo: Mandy Wright Photography

Custom Backdrops and Focal Points

Sometimes we’ll get requests for a floral spotlight at a welcome sign, as part of a photo booth backdrop, a cake table, and so on. These prices are also going to range widely, but I think you’d be safe to start your budgeting at $300-$500 for a “smaller” floral piece, and $500+ for a larger moment. 

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I hope this is so helpful for you! I know that wedding flower budgeting is incredibly unsexy and also very mysterious. It’s not a world that you’re familiar with, and that’s okay. Generally speaking, online resources are completely useless and out of touch with reality, so that doesn’t help you either. That’s what we’re here for :) 

Getting married in 2024?
Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to us for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!

Charming Backyard Wedding in Ste Anne

Oh, how excited I was to design for Brenna and Michael’s charming backyard wedding in Ste Anne! This was yet another wedding with a few twists and turns in the planning thanks to Covid and a venue change, but Brenna’s vision for a Southern Charm style event never wavered.

I’ll never forget the first time we sat down to chat — we barely even talked about flowers. She’s one of those people who you can just talk with, connect with, and enjoy your time with. Finding out that she has dreamy style and knows how to execute it just made it even better.

Photos by Simply Rosie Photography

This colour palette was feminine, soft, and kind of water-coloured: soft pinks, butter yellow, soft blue, lilac. She started a lot of the design work with this custom painted picture of their home in Ste Anne, and their dogs, which they incorporated throughout the invitation suite. The bridesmaids dressed in the palette, and Brenna found this gorgeous double-faced satin ribbon that we decked out the bouquets with.

Now look below, and you’ll see some of the setup from the cocktail hour. When you arrived at the house and went around to the back (where the ceremony overlooked the river), you first stepped into this cute cocktail hour area, complete with fringed umbrellas and this delightfully cottage-core welcome area.

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: O’hara garden roses, quicksand roses, lisianthus, ranunculus, sweet pea, forget me knot, and feverfew.

Set on the grassy hill and overlooking the river, Brenna and Michael walked down the aisle underneath a canopy of trees to their ceremony, and said their vows under this perfect arch.

We framed the entrance to the aisle with baskets of flowers, potted plants, and lanterns. It was so romantic!

The arch was like a secret garden, with subtle colour blocking and somewhat overgrown in style. This is one of my favourite arch styles to date.

Feminine, romantic, Southern charm, detailed — everything about the tablescapes was just completely Brenna.

Velvet table numbers, bamboo flatware, vintage brass bells at the tables, wooden candlestick holders with pale blue taper candles…this all just added up to a gorgeous design and a refreshing ambiance. And looking at these images, you’d never know that the wind was putting a real kink in our plans. But, that’s just outdoor weddings in Manitoba.

Brenna is so creative. Their home is absolutely gorgeous — it’s like walking into a classic Southern charm show home, honestly. Multiple pieces of their furniture found their way into the wedding design, in fact! So, of course she would come up some very clever details for the wedding reception design.

One of my favourite details: the linens. Which weren’t table linens, but actually BED LINENS. I literally would never have thought of this, but Brenna did!

THE CAKE. The fricking cake. There’s obviously something to be said for a simple cake (this one was carrot cake and it smelled so good) and some seriously decked out florals. And this perfect table, that we plucked from Brenna’s living room.

It’s evident that I love this floral cake surround. It’s one of my favourite design elements I’ve ever created. And even better, this was done in a non-toxic and earth-friendly way! We created this using hidden vases and chicken wire sausages, that we tucked florals into, rather than inserting the flowers into the cake itself.

If I could do a wedding over and over again out of pure happiness and love for a couple, I’ll tell you what, it would be this one. Brenna was just a true delight to work with and seeing this wedding FINALLY happen after a Covid reschedule and a venue change, was just amazing.

Simply Rosie Photography ~ Deer & Almond ~ Something Borrowed ~ Stella’s Bridal ~ Baked Expectations ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Velvet RAptor ~ Eph Apparel ~ Nomad Box Bar

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

My 2024 calendar is now open!

Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding! 

Sweet Simplicity Spring Wedding at the Pavilion

Last May, I had the pleasure of designing two weddings at the Pavilion at Assiniboine Park. The first was kind of a modern take on a garden-inspired design, and the second was Gwen and Gavin’s simple, intimate, blush and peach wedding.

Gwen’s style is very feminine and romantic, and she wanted her ceremony arch to be the centrepiece of the floral design.

Photos: Brittany Mahood Photography

It’s always good to keep a bride’s frame in mind — I knew that Gwen was petite with tiny hands, and we didn’t want anything too large. And when I gave her her bouquet, I was astonished because what looked so small in my hands looked full and large in hers!

Bridal bouquet ingredients: ranunculus, sweet pea, sweet escimo roses, freesia, baby’s breath, and sahara sensation spray roses.

Oh I loved designing this arch! I really like the deconstructed arch base — it’s so easy to do so many different designs on it. Gwen wanted a lot of baby’s breath and we went with a modern garden style, tucking in peach and light pink florals with lots of stem length.

With about 30 guests, the room had more than enough space to keep the ceremony and reception in the same room. The morning ceremony was followed by brunch, and we decided on 4 banquet tables set with Planned Perfectly’s toffee linen (see how nicely they can skew pink?) with gold chivari chairs. We decided on mixed pink, peach, and white florals with an airy feel. Sweet, simple, lovely!

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Photos: Brittany Mahood ~ Venue: The Pavilion at Assiniboine Park ~ Video: KT Films ~ Linens and Chairs: Planned Perfectly

LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

2024 wedding dates are now booking! Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding! 

Modern, Organic Wedding at St Norbert Arts Centre

Every wedding that I’m hired for full event design for is a special project for me. Chantal and Avo were planning from out of town (she’s originally from Manitoba) and we had a few bumps in the road thanks to Covid causing us to postpone a year AND their venue closing a few short months before their wedding.

The creative brief called for a calm, intimate atmosphere (Avo wanted it to feel like a family dinner) with a modern, organic vibe. Whites with cool mixed blues and greys, warmed up with a few wood accents felt so good.

Photos by Esther Funk Photography

I really hit the flower jackpot the week of Chantal’s wedding! The ranunculus was gorg, the spirea was delish, but the icing on the cake was that we were able to find some white lilac — Chantal’s fave that I just never guarantee because if I get it in wholesale, it always craps out. But if it’s blooming locally, then we’re good! And my friendly neighbourhood flower farmer, BLD Gardens, had these gorgeous lilac AND the most mind-shattering tulips that blew all of Instagram’s minds that week.

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: white lilac, ranunculus, tulips, sweet pea, and spirea, with a few touches of olive and stalks of wheat to remember Chantal’s late father with.

The stationery suite! We worked really closely with Meredyth from Leech Letter Co to design this custom suite, in both French and Lebanese. I wanted to create this watercolour ombre effect on the vellum overlay, with a blue fade. We kept the rest of the design quite simple, with just a minimal branching touch.

Nothing to do with flowers, but Avo’s first look reaction was just amazing. This deserved to be memorialized.

Everything was out at St Norbert Arts Centre. I wasn’t confident that there was enough space on the lawn to fit their smaller guest list, but the chairs were angled to kind of work around some tree stumps and it actually fit just fine!

Originally, we were going to be at the the former Cloakroom Wellness, which was a downtown venue with an industrial vibe. Obviously the very natural setting of SNAC is pretty different than the original vision, so we tweaked the design plan. We were always going to use a lot of greenery, but instead of ground-based pieces that curved around a window nook, we went up, creating some greenery pillars to frame the couple in.

And now inside! I love the feel of SNAC (though it can get really hot there, as it’s not air conditioned, so just a word to the wise!). The only thing I don’t like is the red beams. Whyyyy anyone would use red as an interior colour is beyond me, especially in a space that is otherwise white/wood/light brick. Those red beams were the first thing to address.

I worked with Planned Perfectly to add some draping between red ceiling beams down the centre of the room — it didn’t perfectly hide the beams, but it softened and somewhat camoflauged. And it would have made for a lovely rain plan for the ceremony as well, to walk beneath the drapery as an aisle.

The next thing I wanted to do was camoflauge the red posts that greet you at the entrance. In the original venue, we were going to have greenery boughs suspended from the ceiling, hanging above all the guest tables. We basically took all that greenery and funnelled it into these central posts. It looked gorgeous!

I loved the way we used the small entryway to welcome guests in, with this lovely blue seating chart and floral piece along with a small cocktail table for guest cards.

We brought in all of the wood tables and crossback chairs (which were planned for the original venue), which brought in some much needed warmth.

The centrepieces were simple and minimal, leaving enough space for family style platters of food (the menu looked incredible, tying together specialities from both their heritages). We cannot use real flame candles as the venue is a heritage building, but I don’t mind the battery-powered tealights when they’re tucked inside a coloured glass votive holder! Textured white florals in ceramic stem vases featured sweet pea, spirea, and tulips.

I always want to make sure there’s a beautiful place setting — there’s just something about them that I love. Layering a charger and a dinner plate can feel wasteful if budget doesn’t allow, but with family style meal service, they’re super functional. The salad was served on a small grey salad plate, which was then layered with white and grey plates. An oatmeal linen napkin and blue water goblet were added, with personalized menus added to each.

Esther Funk Photography ~ Feast & Festivities ~ St Norbert Arts Centre ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Luxe Linens ~ Leech Letter Co ~ Myuz Artistry

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Looking for a Wedding Floral & Event Designer in Winnipeg?

2024 wedding dates are now booking! Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!